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Abstract

This article explores the evolution of genocide education in the secondary ELA classroom, tracing how foundational Holocaust literature has expanded into a broader, transnational framework of global witness. Drawing on two decades of teaching experience, the author argues that while the Holocaust canon remains essential to genocide education, contemporary classrooms also require literature that helps students engage ongoing and intergenerational atrocities in places such as Rwanda, Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza. The article examines how teachers can thoughtfully adapt established literacy structures—such as rhetorical reading, literature circles, and response journals—into practices of ethical witnessing that center critical empathy, harm, healing, and the enduring responsibility of “Never Again.”

Author Biography

Sarah J. Donovan is a researcher and teacher educator at Oklahoma State University, specializing in English Language Arts and ethical literacy education. A former middle and high school teacher, her work focuses on helping educators navigate the affective and ethical complexities of state-mandated genocide education. She is the author of Genocide Literature in Middle and Secondary Classrooms (Routledge, 2016) and Teaching Genocide and Holocaust Education in ELA Classrooms: Language to Remember, Resist, and Repair (Routledge, 2026), which provides strategies for cultivating critical hope, agency, and ethical engagement with students across modes and genres. Her current research examines how literary tools can serve as essential scaffolds for affective witnessing and communal repair in ELAR classrooms. She can be reached at [email protected].

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